House Projects

[Murlo26]

I need to get into this stuff more.

Anywho, no pics here just some advice. DO NOT replace your bottom garage door seal in teh winter, worse job ever. I bet it's a 20-30 min job in the spring/summer, but with the cold it was miserable. Also buy a quality seal, the one I got from lowes is basically frozen solid in the cold so there are still some minor gaps on occasion when the door is closed.

I'm going to pick up a garage door threshold kit and see if I can improve my sealing quality.

Today I will be tackling a garbage disposal install.

garbage disposal isn't too bad, I suck at plumbing so mine was a nightmare.

I ended up using the rubber cement type shit on all the connections. My cuts weren't square enough and the compression fittings kept leaking and if i moved the pipes to fix one it would leak somewhere else. So I said Eff it and used the permanent stuff that I will have to cut out one day if I need to change it.

Take your time, measure you stuff like 10 times and try to make sure your pipes are perfectly square so those fittings work and seal.

good luck!

[A//// Guy]

I replaced both my entire garage doors in the cold over the past 3 weeks :) Just gotta dress for it.

Brown, if the door doesnt go all the way down to seal well, maybe your spring tension is too high.

Been doing lots of updates to the house since the hail storm in August. Roof was done in November, Siding on the front is done as of last week, did shakes up on top and some white trim molding, gutters too. Garage doors are done, got ones with windows, love the natural light inside the garage now. Some siding left on the back of the house to replace.

Quick pic: http://oi57.tinypic.com/21j62h4.jpg

Replaced quite a few peices of broken siding on the detached rear garage by myself, that was last Saturday. Took around 6 hours.

Painting a few walls in the next week inside, thats always fun.

Glad spring is coming soon, then I can dig back into the garden!

[Halon]

Looks good peter, I like the garage door windows.

[BriK]

I'm going to pick up a garage door threshold kit and see if I can improve my sealing quality.


I don't have experience with the threshold kits but I've thought about them and looked into them and I've ultimately decided on a different route. The problem I see is that the threshold raises the point at which the door is "closed" so while the little lip on the threshold may seal tiny little air leaks at the bottom, at least on my door, I'd be creating one new continuous gap all the way across the top-- solving a small problem and creating a bigger one.

I've ordered but not yet installed a brush weatherseal kit (I ordered two of the Genuine Hotrod Hardware kits from Summit Racing: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sez-709?seid=srese1&gclid=CIzin4-iurwCFfFDMgodt00A1g) which I'll screw into the inside top and bottom of the garage door; I'll keep the normal seal at the bottom too so the brush is meant to seal any little gaps that are left. For the sides of the door, I've nailed the garage bottom seals used for the "home depot lip" mod on the inside and will be replacing the seals on the outside in Spring. It's hard to explain but, basically, I'll end up with seals on all sides of the door both inside and outside.

In related news, I more than doubled the horsepower of... my garage door opener. I upgraded from a 0.5 HP chain drive to a 1.25 HP Chamberlain belt drive with all the bells and whistles-- battery backup, smartphone app, etc. I was going to replace the door rollers with ceramic ball bearing ones but the opener has made opening and closing dead silent so I've ditched that idea for now. I can join in on the cold weather moaning too since I did the uninstall and install the week it was 20 below multiple days on end.

[A//// Guy]

There shouldnt be any gap on top of the garage door if you install a threshold kit, it would probably move the door maybe .5 inches off the current spot. If the top section of the door has a little too much arc in it, or gap from the outside, there is an adjustment for that on the inside of the door at the very top of each side. But if you have a good seal at the bottom of your door, you dont need a threshold kit, unless water is coming inside from a sloped driveway or something. If your door leaves a gap at the bottom, your door spring tension is too high which makes the door too light.

Adjustment plate looks like this:

http://www.repairmygarage.com/images/garage%20door%20triangle%20bracket.JPG

[turbotalon1g]

I'm gonna take a closer look at adjusting the door some before I buy anything else.
Thanks for the tips guys.

[asshanson]

First off, in the name of efficiency, I replaced of the most commonly used bulbs in my house with Cree brand LEDs from Home Depot. I made a nifty spreadsheet weighing hours used per day, wattage, etc and figure I should save a solid $20 per month with about a $300 investment. These things are supposed to last 20 years, so if they hold up like some of the other LED bulbs I have, I will be happy. I got the soft-white version and they are nearly identical to the incandescent bulbs that I replaced them with.

You inspired me to do LED replacement. So far I have just done the kitchen/dining room: 7 recessed floods, all were 65W. Replaced them with GE 10W that are actually a little brighter than the old bulbs. I went with GE because I found them for a few bucks cheaper than the Cree and the specs were nearly identical. Next I need to find 6 LED candle style for the living room ceiling fan and bedroom ceiling fan. That will probably be it, since we don't use the other rooms much. I figured it will take about a year for them to pay for themselves at $7.50 each.

Next up on the list is a projector for the basement. I'm getting one from our realtor, it's a couple years old but can't complain about free. Just have to find a screen now.

[scheides]

Make sure to check CRI of any bulbs you put in, that's what makes or breaks lighting and the reason I really like the Cree bulbs.

I just checked and my electric bill this month was $40-75 less than the previous five Aprils. Definitely working!

[asshanson]

These GE are 80 CRI, from what I saw online the Cree were the same.

[turbotalon1g]

These LED bulbs really save that much money?